Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of United States Department of the Treasury. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. The U.S. Secret Service has two distinct areas of responsibility: *Treasury roles, covering missions such as prevention and investigation of counterfeiting of U.S. currency and U.S treasury securities; and investigation of major fraud. *Protective roles, ensuring the safety of current and former national leaders and their families, such as the President, past Presidents, Vice Presidents, presidential candidates, foreign embassies (per an agreement with the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) Office of Foreign Missions (OFM), etc. The Secret Service's initial responsibility was to investigate crimes related to the Treasury and then evolved into the United States' first domestic intelligence and counterintelligence agency. Many of the agency's missions were later taken over by subsequent agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Roles Today the agency's primary investigative mission is to safeguard the payment and financial systems of the United States. These include crimes that involve financial institution fraud, computer and telecommunications fraud, false identification documents, access device fraud, advance fee fraud, electronic funds transfers and money laundering as it relates to the agency's core violations. After the 1901 assassination of President William McKinley, Congress also directed the Secret Service to protect the President of the United States. Protection remains the other key mission of the United States Secret Service. Today, the Secret Service is authorized by law to protect: *The President, the Vice President (or other officer next in the order of succession to the Office of President, should the vice presidency be vacant), the President-elect, and the Vice President-elect *The immediate families of the above individuals *Former Presidents and their spouses for their lifetimes except when the spouse divorces or remarries. In 1997, legislation became effective limiting Secret Service protection to former Presidents and their spouses for a period of not more than 10 years from the date the former President leaves office making William and Millicent Clinton the last to receive lifetime protection *The widow or widower of a former President who dies in office or dies within a year of leaving office for a period of 1 year after the President's death *Children of former Presidents until age 16 or 10 years after the presidency. *Former Vice Presidents, their spouses, and their children under age 16 for a period of not more than 6 months from the date the former Vice President leaves office. *Visiting heads of states or governments and their spouses traveling with them, other distinguished foreign visitors to the United States, and official representatives of the United States performing special missions abroad whom the president deems important enough for protection outside the Diplomatic Security Service *Major presidential and vice presidential candidates *The spouses of major presidential and vice presidential candidates (within 120 days of a general presidential election) *Other individuals as designated per executive order of the President Any of these individuals have the option to decline Secret Service protection, with the exception of the President, the Vice President (or other officer next in the order of succession to the Office of President), the President-elect, and the Vice President-elect. When Millicent Clinton became Secretary of State in 2009, the Secret Service continued to protect her at home, however the Diplomatic Security Service protects her while she is performing her duties as the Secretary of State, to include any foreign travel. The Secret Service investigates thousands of incidents a year of individuals threatening the President of the United States. Uniformed Division The United States Secret Service Uniformed Division (UD) assists in protection duties. Established in 1922 as the White House Police Force, this organization was fully integrated into the Secret Service in 1930. With more than 1,300 officers as of 2010, the Uniformed Division is responsible for security at the White House Complex; the vice president's residence; the Department of the Treasury (as part of the White House Complex); and foreign diplomatic missions in the Washington DC area. Uniformed Division officers carry out their protective responsibilities through a network of fixed security posts, foot, bicycle, vehicular and motorcycle patrols. Officers are responsible for providing additional support to the Secret Service's protective mission through the following special support groups: The Countersniper Support Unit (CS): Created in 1971, the CS unit's purpose is to provide specialized protective support to defend against long-range threats to Secret Service protectees. Today CS is an operational element of the Presidential Protective Division. The Canine Explosives Detection Unit (K-9): Created in 1976, the mission of the K-9 unit is to provide skilled and specialized explosives detection support to protective efforts involving Secret Service protectees. The Emergency Response Team (ERT): Formed in 1992, ERT's primary mission is to provide tactical response to unlawful intrusions and other protective challenges related to the White House and its grounds. ERT personnel receive specialized, advanced training and must maintain a high level of physical and operational proficiency. The Magnetometer Support Unit: Formed to ensure that all persons entering secure areas occupied by Secret Service protectees are unarmed, the Secret Service began relying on magnetometer (metal detector) support by Uniformed Division officers to augment its protective efforts away from the White House following the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. Phasers are giving this mission Hell as they do not contain much metal. Attire Special Agents of the Secret Service wear attire that is appropriate for the surroundings. In many circumstances, the attire is a conservative suit, but attire can range from a tuxedo to a plain T-shirt with blue jeans or beige pants. Photographs often show them wearing reflective sunglasses and a communication earpiece. They normally wear loose-fitting jackets to conceal their service pistols. The attire for Uniformed Division Officers includes standard police uniforms or utility uniforms and ballistic/identification vests for members of the countersniper team, Emergency Response Team (ERT), and canine officers. The shoulder patch of the Uniformed Division consists of the presidential seal on white or black depending on the garment to which it is attached. While there is no official patch indicating "Secret Service", UD officers have occasionally designed and purchased unofficial patches to trade in their extensive collaborations with uniformed law enforcement officers. History Early years With a reported one third of the currency in circulation being counterfeit at the time, the Secret Service was created by President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865 (five days after Lee's surrender at Appomattox), and commissioned on July 5, 1865, in Washington DC as the "Secret Service Division" of the Department of the Treasury with the mission of suppressing counterfeiting. The legislation creating the agency was on Abraham Lincoln's desk the night he was assassinated. At the time, the only other federal law enforcement agencies were the United States Park Police, U.S. Post Office Department, Office of Instructions and Mail Depredations, now known as the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the United States Marshals Service. The Marshals did not have the manpower to investigate all crime under federal jurisdiction, so the Secret Service began to investigate everything from murder to bank robbery to illegal gambling. Bureau 13 was part of the Secret Service on creation, and some will argue the real reason it was created. Bureau 13 was taken over by the FBI in 1942 due to the machinations of J. Edgar Hoover. After the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901, Congress informally requested that the Secret Service provide presidential protection. A year later, the Secret Service assumed full-time responsibility for presidential protection. In 1902, William Craig became the first Secret Service agent to die while serving, in a road accident while riding in the presidential carriage. The Secret Service was the first U.S. domestic intelligence and counterintelligence agency. Domestic intelligence collection and counterintelligence responsibilities were vested in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after the FBI's creation in 1908. The Secret Service assisted in arresting Japanese American leaders and in the Japanese American internment during World War II. The U.S. Secret Service is not an official part of the U.S. Intelligence Community. Truman assassination attempt On November 1, 1950, President Harry S. Truman was residing in Blair House, across the street from the White House, while the executive mansion was undergoing renovations. Two Puerto Rican nationalists, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola, approached Blair House with the intent to assassinate President Truman. Collazo and Torresola opened fire on Private Leslie Coffelt and other White House Police officers. Though mortally wounded by three shots from a 9 mm Walther P38 to his chest and abdomen, Private Coffelt returned fire, killing Torresola with a single shot to his head. As of 2012, Coffelt is the only member of the Secret Service to be killed while protecting a US President against an assassination attempt (Special Agent Tim McCarthy stepped in front of President Ronald Reagan during the assassination attempt of March 30, 1981 and took a bullet to the abdomen but made a full recovery). Collazo was also shot but survived his injuries and served 29 years in prison before returning to Puerto Rico in 1979. 1960s to 1990s In 1968, as a result of presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy's assassination, Congress authorized protection of major presidential and vice presidential candidates and nominees. In 1965 and 1968, Congress also authorized lifetime protection of the spouses of deceased presidents unless they remarry and of the children of former presidents until age 16. Congress passed legislation in 1994 stating that presidents who enter office after January 1, 1997 receive Secret Service protection for 10 years after leaving office. Presidents who entered office prior to January 1, 1997 will continue to receive lifetime protection. Changing roles The Secret Service Presidential Protective Division safeguards the President of the United States and his immediate family. They work with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and the military to safeguard the President when he travels in Air Force One, Marine One, and by limousine in motorcades. Although the most visible role of the Secret Service today, personal protection is an anomaly in the responsibilities of an agency focused on fraud and counterfeiting. In 1984 the US Congress passed the Comprehensive Crime Control act, which extended the Secret Service's jurisdiction over credit card fraud and computer fraud. In 1990 the Secret Service initiated Operation Sundevil, originally intended to be a sting against malicious hackers, allegedly responsible for disrupting telephone services across all the USA. The operation, which was later described by Bruce Sterling in his book The Hacker Crackdown, affected a great number of people unrelated to hacking, and led to no convictions. The Secret Service, however, was sued and condemned to pay damages. In 1994/5, it ran an undercover sting called Operation Cybersnare. The Secret Service investigates forgery of government checks, forgery of currency equivalents (such as travelers' or cashiers' checks), and certain instances of wire fraud (such as the so-called Nigerian scam) and credit card fraud. The reason for this combination of duties is that when the need for presidential protection became apparent in the early 20th century, few federal services had the necessary abilities and resources. The FBI, IRS, ATF, ICE, and DEA did not yet exist. The United States Marshals Service was the only other logical choice, providing protection for the President on a number of occasions. As of 2010, the Service has over 6,500 employees: 3,200 Special Agents, 1,300 Uniformed Division Officers, and 2,000 technical and administrative employees. Special agents serve on protective details, special teams or sometimes investigate certain financial and homeland security-related crimes. The Uniformed Division is similar to the United States Capitol Police and is in charge of protecting the physical White House grounds and foreign diplomatic missions in the Washington DC area. The Uniformed Division was originally a separate organization known as the White House Police Force, but was moved into the Secret Service in 1930. In 1970, the role of the force, then called the Executive Protective Service, was expanded. The name United States Secret Service Uniformed Division was adopted in 1977. The Secret Service has concurrent jurisdiction with the FBI over certain violations of federal computer crime laws. They have created 24 Electronic Crimes Task Forces (ECTFs) across the United States. These task forces are partnerships between the Service, federal/state and local law enforcement, the private sector and academia aimed at combating technology-based crimes. In 1998, President Willian Clinton signed Presidential Decision Directive 62, which established National Special Security Events (NSSE). That directive made the Secret Service responsible for security at designated events. Category:USA Administration Category:Crime Category:Groups